The combination of school, work, family issues and financial pressures has at times made Joshua Key-Bieber consider quitting school.

In a world connected by high speed Internet, businesses are increasingly seeking a competitive edge by outsourcing software development offshore. For many companies, the strategy promises dramatically lower labor costs and better access to a vast pool of talent.

“Long and winding” doesn’t even begin to describe the road Rozaliya Everstova has traveled to land at the Department of Information Systems — and more specifically, her decision to focus her studies on computer information systems.

The Department of Information Systems added four new faculty members this fall, building expertise in business analytics among other relevant areas of research, and adding to the department’s store of industry experience.

Every summer, a group of researchers are selected for Dean’s Summer Research grants. These funds allow professors to use the summer months to dig into new work or bear down on a large project.

Raghu Santanam, chair of the Department of Information Systems provides his readers with insight into the developments that have taken place in the IS field since the 1990s. Santanam also gives his readers some information on the direction of the future of IS.